President's Climate Commitment

           Westfield State University, unknowingly to most, is a part of The American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), an effort for universities and other colleges to addressed global climate issues.  Those who are a part of the ACUPCC must have an emissions inventory, set milestones in orer to become climate neutral,  reduce greenhouse gas emissions using short-term actions, have sustainability in the curriculum, and create an action plan, inventory and progress reports, all publicly available.

           I think that the campus is making an effort toward reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.  We need to get our reports into the committee and possibly get more people actively involved in these steps.  I also believe that we have also begun to work towards more of the tangible actions that haven’t been listed on their website.  We have implemented the use of solar panels on the roofs of some of the academic buildings on campus, as well as putting in a new cooling system on Wilson Hall.  The solar panels are hooked up to monitors within Wilson Hall that gives you a reading of the amount of energy being generated as well, for all to see. 


           In the ACUPCC 2009 annual report Westfield State University was not in good standing as of December 31, 2009.  In the 2011 annual report Westfield State was in good standing with the President’s Climate Commitment, but they had no paid their membership dues for the 2010-2011 academic year.  On their website for reporting institutions Westfield State was supposed to have a greenhouse gas report in by January 15, 2013 and that is marked off in red, for not being in.  On the actual implementation profile for our campus there are two tangible actions that we have elected to move forward with, out of six options.  There is the establishment of a policy that new campus constructions will be built, at least to, U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Silver standards, or equivalent.  We have written in that all new construction is required to build under the LEED Plus standards of Massachusetts Executive Order 484, and will be working on a similar policy for all local and campus construction projects.  The other tangible action is the encouragement of, and providing of, public transportation for all faculty, staff, students, and visitors of the institution.  The campus has a contract with the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) for full transportation to and from the college on established routes and schedules during the academic school year (Figure 1).  They are looking to extend this to faculty and staff.  WSU is also a member of MassRide and works with them for rideshare incentives to reduce drive-alone trips.

ACUPCC. "Mission and History | Presidents' Climate Commitment." Home | Presidents' Climate Commitment.
                N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2013. <http://presidentsclimatecommitment.org/about/mission-history>.

ACUPCC. "ACUPCC 2009 Annual Report."Home | Presidents' Climate Commitment. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2013. <http://www2.presidentsclimatecommitment.org>.

ACUPCC. "ACUPCC 2011 Annual Report."Home | Presidents' Climate Commitment. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2013. <http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org>.

ACUPCC. "ACUPCC Reports · Implementation Profile for Westfield State University." ACUPCC Reports · Reporting Institutions. N.p., 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 5 May 2013. <http://rs.acupcc.org/ip/8/>.

ACUPCC Reporting System. "ACUPCC Reports · Reporting Institutions." ACUPCC Reports · Reporting Institutions. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2013. <http://rs.acupcc.org/search/?abs=&q=Westfield%20State%20University>.